Another 450 hospitality workers, who have

been trained and certified by the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI),

will graduate from the institution this Wednesday.

The ceremony is slated for the Montego Bay

Convention Centre in St. James, and brings the total number of persons graduating

since the facility was established in 2017, to some 640, Tourism Minister

Edmund Bartlett has said.

He was speaking during a ceremony at Sunset

at the Palms Resort and Spa in Negril, Westmoreland, on Sunday (Oct. 13) to

mark the establishment’s 15th anniversary.

Bartlett argued the out-turn of JCTI

graduates is indicative of the Government’s steadfast commitment to human

resource development within the tourism industry.

The minister pointed out that major training programmes being offered to tourism workers at the JCTI, as well as in high schools, are intended to produce competent world-class professionals.

“All that level of human capital

development that we are doing in the industry is [intended] to build out a

quality of excellence that will make our industry and product [the most] sought

after for any group anywhere in the world,” he further said.

Bartlett emphasised that a highly trained

hospitality labour force will bolster competitiveness and employment

opportunities for workers, particularly at the supervisory and management

levels.

 “This

is important for workers, to give you quality middle staff. We went to the high schools for the first time in our history, and, last year, we started in the fifth and sixth forms at 33 schools across Jamaica.  For the first time, [come] May 2020, we will have 640 Jamaican high-school students with associate degrees, ready for entry level into the tourism industry,” he said.

He added that the ministry in partnership

with the University of the West Indies (UWI), will establish its first-ever

Graduate School of Tourism in Montego Bay by 2020.

Bartlett contended the push to undertake

the highest level of training in tourism is designed to “enable us to respond

and to be nimble in terms of the digital transformation that is taking place in

the industry today”.

The JCTI was created to increase access to

certification for tertiary-level graduates as well as workers in the

hospitality industry, thereby boosting Jamaica’s tourism product.

Meanwhile, the Tourism Minister hailed

Sunset at The Palms Resort for what he described as “its enviable record of

accomplishments and awards in its 15 years of operation”.

“Looking back over the past 15 years, I am

overwhelmed at the impressive list of awards Sunset at the Palms resort has

earned, including being rated by TripAdvisor as one of the ‘top ten most

romantic resorts in the Caribbean’,” he said.

Bartlett also praised the resort for its

high rate of repeat visitors which, he argued, is indicative of the property’s

uniqueness and the staff’s dedication to service excellence.

Sunset at the Palms Resort was the first

establishment worldwide, to awarded certification for Environmentally,

Sustainable Tourism by the United Kingdom-based accreditation body, Green

Globe.